Started with a Sucker Punch
by No1Bookworm
Summary: Her first encounter with the man of her dreams was just like she imagined. Except for the fact that he was covered in zombie make-up, and that she accidentally punched him in the face, and that he was incredibly rude, and that - okay, so maybe it wasn't completely like she imagined.


Levy woke up all of a sudden in her room, scrunching her nose in confusion. _What is that weird smell? _She got up and opened her door, only to find dozens of cats lounging around in her living room and kitchen. _Wha? Where did all these cats come from? _**Meow. **A black cat with a serious case of ruffled hair rubbed against her skin. It blinked at her with red, expecting eyes. It acted so familiar with her, as if she'd known it forever. _But I don__'__t remember getting a cat, let alone all the others! _**Knock knock. **Levy picked her way through the felines and got to her door, opening it to find no one there. But as she closed the door she spied a piece of paper sitting on her welcome mat. And as she read the letter, one phrase burned into the back of her skull.

_Resident Cat Lady._

"Aaaaaaaaaaghhhhh!"

"Levy! Wake up! It's just a nightmare." She got up and felt a major dose of dejavu. Meanwhile her roommate Lucy was bustling around, making coffee and trying to put on makeup. "Hello? Levyy? We need to get ready for the amusement park, remember? We're meeting up with the guys." _Wha? Oh. __"_Yeah okay. I'm up." She rubbed her eyes and dragged herself to the closet, picking up the closest things she could grab. Which, thankfully, were not so bad. (The usual shirt and sweats.)

"Was it that scary?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"Try me."

"I became the resident cat lady! Me! Alone! Living with dozens of cats! Lucyyy I don't wanna end up like that!" Lucy huffed as she heard this. "Well, if you actually said yes to one of the many suitors you have you wouldn't be having these nightmares! You're smart, pretty, witty, fit. Geez Levy you've got everything going for you! And its not like your suitors are horrible. Some of them are really nice."

"Well yes but none of them are _the _one! I just haven't found him yet."

"You can't be too picky. Say no too many times and they'll think you don't want to have a boyfriend."

"But I do!" Lucy could only shrug as she chugged down the last of her coffee and grabbed her keys. "We can settle your relationship dilemmas later. For now, let's enjoy our summer break. Shall we?"

—

As far as she could tell, the new amusement park was awesome. They were now taking a break before venturing on to the other half of the park. 'They' consisted of Natsu, Gray, Juvia, Lucy, and herself. Though Gray and Juvia somehow got separated from them so they agreed to just meet them later for dinner. "Oi! Lucy! Let's go to the haunted house next!"

"Natsu we just got here!"

"Yeah, like a century ago!" Facepalming, she got up anyways and threw her ice cream wrapper. "Haunted House then?" Levy considered this for a while.

"Hmmm…That sounds pretty fun to me actually. Let's go!"

—

Yeah, maybe it wasn't so fun after all. Natsu and Lucy were always darting here and there, and after a while, she actually lost them. _Why does this always happen? Freakin__' __couples just had to ditch me huh? _She didn't want to go back the way they came, not when the people manning the entrance could see and judge her for turning back. So after calming down in the same spot for a few moments, she trudged on, determined to finish it without anyone with her. She had a few fleeting moments of encouragement and it all ran down the drain when she met her first zombie. But after every scare, she had the strangest and strongest urge to punch them. But she knew these were real people so she couldn't possibly do that. They were just doing their job, albeit a little too well. But when she encountered the next mummy-zombie thing she snapped.

BAM! Thud. "What the hell woman?!"

"I'm sorry! I just couldn't help it I-" She risked a glance at the victim on the floor and felt her chest squeeze just a little. She was going to be honest. He was really good-looking. Like _really _good-looking. Even if he was sort of on his bum, she could tell he was _much _taller than her, and _very _well-built. I mean, when she actually got a good look at him she could also see his muscles straining against his convincing get-up. But his _eyes. _She's never seen a pair _so _red and enticing? Gosh and she had the strangest urge to run her hands through his long, black, messy hair. And trace the piercings along his eyebrows, his nose, under his mouth…_Wait a minute._ "Oh gosh you're jaw! I'm really, really sorry!" Just to the right of his piercings under his mouth was a bruise as big as her fist. She quickly bent down to his height and checked it out. "Ouchie. Um, do you by any chance wanna come with me? We can grab some ice at the ice-cream stand right outside this building." He considered this for a while, and she might've shivered a little as she felt his eyes asses her. _What the heck Levy? _"Okay then, Shortie." Her face turned red. "_Excuse me?__"_

"You heard me. Now let's go before you hurt anymore of my colleagues. _Shortie.__" _

The haunted house actors could only scratch their heads as they saw a pair with astounding height difference march through the house, bantering all the way.

They finally got out and made their way towards the ice cream stand. Levy held up some frozen yoghurt to his bruise. "Yoghurt? Really Shrimp?"

"Oh so now it's Shrimp? Where the heck did you get that nickname from? And what's wrong with yoghurt?" He rolled his eyes as he responded. "Gee I don't know. It just suits you. And you could've just gotten normal ice cream."

"Well I got yoghurt so deal with it." She pressed it more firmly this time. Levy winced as she felt him hiss in discomfort. "Sorry again, about the bruise."

"It really is no big deal Shrimp. I've gotten worse."

"Should I be relieved?"

"Gihee." Levy suddenly realised she that she didn't even know his name. She started giggling, not knowing how they talked that much and still hadn't gotten each others name. He could only raise his eyebrows at her weird behaviour. "What now?"

"We still don't know each other's names! Hahahaha!"

"Oh. Well…" He smirked and offered his hand to her. "The name's Gajeel." Levy could feel her face heat up as she took his hand and said, "I'm Levy."

"Levy huh?" She immediately loved the way he said her name. "Suits you pretty well too."

"So you'll call me Levy from now on right?"

"Nope. I still like Shrimp." She could only huff as he doubled up in laughter. But then she could feel her face break out in a smile, and then chuckling, and before she knew it se was laughing with him. _Freakin__' __big lug and his infectious laugh. _She didn't realize she said that thought out loud until he looked at her and gave her another one of those wicked smirks of his. "So you like my laugh huh?"

"I just said infectious! It doesn't necessarily mean I like it!" She stuck her tongue out at him and opened up the yoghurt. "Aw man it's mostly melted."

"That's because I'm just too hot to handle." Levy rolled her eyes as she proceeded to eat it up. Gajeel only occasionally got from the yoghurt. But since he was too lazy he ended up sharing with her.

"Oi you metal bastard! Whatcha doing here?!" Both her and Gajeel looked back and saw Natsu and Lucy walk up to them. "Levy?" They finally saw her as she was sort of behind him the whole time. "Gajeel! You better not have corrupted our Levy!" Exclaimed Natsu who was threatening him with a fist. "Even I have standards Pinkie." He acknowledged Lucy with a nod and turned back to grab another spoon of yoghurt. "Wait, you guys know each other?" Gajeel answered her saying, "I met these freaks during summer break. Turns out we also attend the same school."

"What?! How come I don't see you around then?"

"That's probably because I'm in a different class."

"And how do you know Gajeel, Levy?" Levy did not like the gleam in Lucy's eyes. "I may have accidentally sucker punched him in the jaw."

"How did that happen?" Lucy asked while Natsu started cackling. "Gajeel got sucker punched by a-" **POW. **The boys started brawling in the middle of the street. "He was an actor in the haunted house. I guess it was just a reflex when he surprised me at a corner."

"Mhmm and how long ago was that?"

"Uhh maybe about forty-five minutes ago?"

"And so you've been with him since then? Huh?" Lucy couldn't believe this. It was _perfect. _"Uh, well, It was only because he was injured and so we had to walk out here to get some ice on it and you know I felt bad so I kept him company and uh, yeah! Ehehe…" Lucy's eyes widened when she spotted small clouds of pink touch her cheeks. "Really?"

"Mhmm!" Her cheeks now sported a full-on blush now. The girls' attention was averted when the guys' shouts got a little too loud. "I shall interrogate you later. Right now we need to calm those idiots down before we all get kicked out of the park." After a few moments of reasoning and bribing, they eventually got the guys to quiet down. All four were talking for a while when Gajeel suddenly stood up and stretched. "Well, It's been fun beating you up Salamander but I gotta go."

"You're going?" Levy couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "Yeah Shrimp I still gotta go back to work. S'okay don't cry about it."

"W-Wha?"

"Yeah you're killing me with that pout of yours."

"Why you insufferable-" She stopped short when she felt his hands ruffle her hair. He started walking back to the attraction waving goodbye to them. "I'll see you idiots in two weeks."

"Don't remind me metalhead." Levy was kinda hoping for a personal goodbye, seeing as how they bonded so much after less than an hour. But as she saw him walking away she realised that he might not. So she took a chance and called out to him. "See you soon Gajeel!" Gajeel abruptly stopped and looked over his shoulder at Levy. He hesitated for a while before saying, "Yeah Shrimp. And uh, you punch good." He resumed walking, albeit a little more stiff than his usual stride.

And for the first time in a long while, she found herself looking forward to the first day of school. _Gajeel, huh? _Levy smiled to herself. She's definitely excited for school this year.


End file.
